Aphelion
by hamstamasta
Summary: Strange dreams plague Riku, a teenager from New York. And one day the door opens… and a boy named Sora falls from the sky. Memories must be remade, but a familiar darkness is returning to engulf the worlds and unleash a deadly prophecy... [Later RxSxK]
1. Destati

**Story Details: **Strange dreams plague Riku, a teenager from New York. And one day the door opens… and a boy named Sora falls from the sky. Memories must be remade, but a familiar darkness is returning... Spoilers for Chain of Memories and of course, Kingdom Hearts. Ri/So/Ro/Na romances later on.

**Author's Note: **I'm back after a looong break from writing to deliver this story, which has been stewing in my head for a long time now. Hope you all enjoy it! I have several chapters already written, so review if ya like it… chapters come out faster that way!

For those of you who are wondering… an aphelion is the point on the orbit of a celestial body that is farthest from the sun. Yes, this is actually important to the story ?)

**For the sake of all things wonderful: **PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY REVIEWS THAT REVEAL PLOT DETAILS OF KINGDOM HEARTS II! Don't ruin my life that way. But please do review! Onwards now, to the story!

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Aphelion  
01: Destati

_Darkness_, a malady of the light that turns everything the color of claws and empty space and stones.

I'm falling through the deep sea.

Falling, falling, and I have a feeling that it's not gravity pulling me down, but the calling of some foul and unseen beast. The wetness clutches at my body, sending shivers of cold and fear down my spine. I can breathe, but the air—or whatever it is—feels heavy in my throat, and reeks of carrion. Everywhere, there is _darkness, cold and damp like old blood, the feeling of storm clouds and impending wrath. _Something, or more than one something, is raking little nails down my neck and face, smelling like _dead stars and wafers of broken feathers. _I struggle to swat at them, but my hands won't move. Disgust and nausea roll up my throat and billow into a silent scream, the kind that makes you quake down to your soul. I want to throw up, to die, to kill myself if I must to break the downward spiral, but my body merely swirls down further, further, into the depths of this unending nightmare…

_Don't be afraid. _The smells change. Blooming from the scent of decay comes something else, like a sliver of gold, or maybe rain, or the warmth of firewood. Something shimmers in the darkness, and he appears. But, as usual, his face is hidden from me by the tempestuous shadows, which hiss and bay at him like beasts. The sinewy arms enfold us, reaching unseen hands into every orifice of my heart. My vision wavers, the shadows cackle, and I can feel the iciness spreading within me, suffocating me. He is unafraid. He reaches for me, slowly, his hand offering sanctum, even as the tentacles of darkness drag both of us down into the awaiting hell of the unknown. _Don't be afraid, _says the boy who smells like wind. _You are the one who will open the door…_

_---_

_Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. _

_- _Anias Nin

_---_

The warm water cascaded down his body, stroking away the cold sweat and the shaking. The boy slid a hand through his pearly locks of hair, allowing the hot breath of the shower to displace the fear of the dream.

_More like the nightmare. _

Riku stepped out of the shower, and reached for the plush white towel hanging on the ornate silver rack. The bathroom had steamed up, covering the houseplants and the grey marble floor in a skirt of fog. Swiping a hand across the clouded mirror, the young man met the aquamarine gaze of his own reflection. The Riku in the mirror stared fiercely back, the fear of the night in his gem-like stare.

_Nightmares can't hurt you, _Riku reassured himself, as he brushed his teeth with vengeance. The reflection in the mirror looked back with eyes clouded by doubt-- the last few weeks sleep had evaded him like a clever animal, replaced by the disturbing dream of falling into an endless abyss. He yanked on a pair on dark blue denim jeans over black boxes, followed by a skintight yellow undershirt and a black pullover hoodie jacket. It was probably snowing again today, but no earthly cold bothered him, an impressive inborn trait that allowed him to stroll around in negative temperatures with little more than a shirt, a gift no doctor had yet figured the scientific meaning of, and that everyone around him had simply come to accept as one of life's odd quirks.

It was only in the landscape of his nightmares in which he felt the overwhelming cold of the darkness.

The house was bathed in the quiet of the morning. Riku liked this time of the day most, when the maids weren't up yet and his mother was not parading around the house with her posse of reporters and admirers, a bogus smile plastered over her perfectly made-up face. _This is my one-of-a-kind Italian white leather couch, _she'd purr, touching the ruby-studded armrests to the _oohs_ and_ aahs_ of her followers. _I got it as a present from my third husband; the rubies are a nice touch, aren't they? _The boy despised his mother, from her fake giggle to her fake affection for him. To her, Riku was just another pretty piece of luggage she felt obliged to carry with her as she waltzed from mansion to mansion; he was much on the same level as the men she had used to start her fruitful modeling career and her precious couch.

The boy sneered slightly at the thought as he slid open the glass doors to one of the house's numerous balconies. School would not start for another two hours or so, but Riku did not mind being awake because he enjoyed watching the spectacle of dawn. The show was different everyday, and was always beautiful—the burnished sun awakening, stretching its glowing arms to tenderly brush the fading stars; it was a sight Riku never tired of watching. At the moment, however, the scenery was draped in the dark cloak of twilight. His mother's manor was placed in one of the chic New York neighborhoods far from school, but it was only a twenty minute drive in his car. Crisp, frigid air greeted the teen as he gazed down the immensely long driveway, which was framed by the thick, bare skeletons of oaks which would explode with emerald green leaves at the touch of spring heat.

It was then that Riku's gaze happened to drift upward, and his attention was caught by one of the remaining diamond pinpricks in the night sky. The star pulsed, its radiant heartbeat waxing and waning with a strange power. The sterling-haired teen stopped, his throat suddenly feeling crackly and dry with anticipation, though what he was anticipating he did not know. Suddenly, trembling like a feverish child, it plummeted from the sky like a flaming meteor, ripping the newborn clouds asunder in its descent. The boy stared, statue still, as he felt—rather than heard—the impact.

He didn't know what was pulling him towards the light, but there was an ache that touched his heart and willed him to action. Riku's feet moved of their own volition. He raced down the marble staircase, tore open the door—surely the noise would wake up the maids—loped down the sloping lawn, vaulted the English brick fence, and stood panting softly in the empty street. The falling star had touched down merely four yards away, where it hovered above the concrete like a shimmering crimson phoenix of spiraling light. Curled inside the glowing light was the small form of a body. _A person_? _Impossible._

"Shit," Riku exhaled. He cast a gaze around at the slumbering houses around him. Why hadn't anyone come out to investigate the gigantic fireball that was floating in the streets? Were the walls so thick and their slumber so deep that they couldn't feel the sheer power peeling off of it, the force that made his bones rattle? He approached the star, somehow unafraid of the unknown, but cautious all the same. The silver-haired boy paused directly in front of it. It breathed only slight warmth, and an almost-familiar scent that he couldn't quite decipher. Steeling himself for the worst, his hand reached to touch the quivering, pulsing sphere…

_To fear the fire._

_Falling, the endless sensation flowing through his body like water. _

_On one side the dark. _

_Pungent, deep shadows roaring with the power of a million black lions. _

_On the other side the light._

_Intense, lustrous beams waltzing with the sheen of a million suns._

_Do you remember?_

_You are the one who will open the door._

_You are…_

"Hey! _Hey! _Wake up!" Something was shaking him insistently, making his head loll back and forth uncomfortably. The vision was fading into obscurity, leaving only impressions of color and fear in the back of his mind. _What time is it? Where am I? And **who** the hell is shaking me!_

"Get _off!" _Riku pushed the figure back, gasping as though he had been submerged. His throat felt uncomfortably tight as he stood shakily in the middle of a familiar forest, a deep well of darkness in the early morning gloom. This particular stand of trees was behind his mother's house, and as a child he'd often played alone here, pretending he was a knight guarding the sacred forest treasure… Riku shook his head fiercely to stop the incoming migraine. The silver haired boy felt as though he had been knocked out with a club and force-fed him a gallon of poison. He looked down at the brunette boy sitting wide-eyed on the pavement, and his mind did not yet make the connection between the stranger and the star.

"Where'd it go?" Riku demanded brusquely of the kid on the floor. "Hey, kid, did you see it too?"

The boy just looked at him, utterly dumbfounded. Riku studied him for a moment. He wore a red jumper covered by a short-sleeved jacket, and enormous yellow shoes that were the exact hue of a ripe banana. Chains shaped like crowns jingled softly around his waist. His tawny hair was the color of a crisp leaf and stood up in spires around the boy's face. The pair examined each other for a second or two longer, dawn's weak light shattering on bare branches overhead and silence stretching between them. Then the brunette sprung off the forest floor and grabbed the sides of Riku's face with gloved hands, a look of inexplicable joy on his young face, eyes shimmering like round sapphires.

"Riku! It's really you…You're really…I mean, you're not…"

Something in the older boy snapped. There were simply things that were too overwhelming for his limited patience to deal with, and a meteor crash, having dreams filled with weird voices, and now being manhandled by some kid were not his idea of a good Monday morning. He slapped the boy's hands away and adjusted his rumpled clothes. The kid couldn't have looked more stunned and hurt if his own mother had set him on fire.

"I've never seen you in my life."

"But I—it's me—"

"Listen, maybe you saw me in a tabloid or something, okay? Happens all the time. I gotta get to school, so thanks for taking me out of the street." Riku stepped around the flabbergasted boy and dusted leaf litter off of himself. As he turned his back, he did not see the confusion clear out of the boy's eyes, replaced by a venom that was unsuitable for such innocent blue. He extended an open hand. Sparkling veins of light traced the air and a pearly, winged key materialized in the boy's grip.

Riku froze in mid-step, sensing the immense power condensing behind him. He vaulted away as the blade slammed into the ground where he'd been standing. The boy uprooted the Keyblade, glowering at his former friend. "It's you, isn't it…Ansem? What've you done to Riku?"

With a jerk of his foot, Riku flipped a dead oak branch into his waiting hand. Sliding into a fencing stance, he gave the brunette an arrogant smile. "Dunno who you are, but if it's a fight you want, then you've got it."

"Get out of his body," the other growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then there won't be any second chances for you!" The winged blade sliced the air, singing with its master's rage. Riku flipped back and sidestepped the next two blows, positioning himself behind a tree. Agility would not save him for long, however. The teen's fist glowed crimson, and he hurled the Keyblade. The first strike split the tree in half, and Riku was forced to duck or be decapitated. Shards of bark littered the ground. He hardly had a chance to look up before he saw the brunette outlined against the sky, the honed tip soaring downward like a claw for a killing blow… Riku rolled and jumped to his feet, barely dodging impalement. The boy pulled the key close to his body, and lunged toward him in a blaze of light. Riku raised the branch to parry, fully aware that a stick wasn't going to stop the explosively powerful weapon, but there was no time to move…

_Images of darkness and light, day and night. The flutter of a raven's wing, tempered by a dove._

_You are the one who will open…_

_You are the one…_

The boy was only feet away—he could see those ocean blue eyes—

_You are…_

_The door…_

_Don't you remember?_

_You've gained the power to fight._

_Soul Eater. _

His hand quivered; the oak branch was incinerated by dark flame; a curiously chilly, tingling sensation raced down his arm; and in his hand materialized a curved, black sword in the shape of a wing, with a single monsterish eye. It happened within a second, as if he had willed it to. Riku grabbed the hilt with the other hand and held it steady. Keyblade and winged sword clashed tremendously in midair, each biting into the steel of the other and casting sparks and waves of light. The brunette grunted in surprise and heaved Soul Eater aside as he stepped back. Both fighters raised their weapons, ready to duel—

"Riku! What the hell are you doing out here at six in the morning, making such a damn ruckus that you wake me up!" Surprised and caught off guard, the silver-haired boy looked over the head of his opponent to see his mother, dressed impeccably in a cashmere coat, striding towards them through the trees. Both weapons shimmered out of existence. The woman paused at the sight of the two boys who stood so close that their outreached hands could touch.

"I'm not doing anything, Mother," he asserted as he strode away from the bewildered chocolate-haired boy. Riku snatched the front of the boy's jacket and half-dragged him down the path that led out of the trees. His mother flipped her pale blonde hair over her shoulder and sent her son her son a frigid look as he passed her.

"Listen, I don't care if you want to screw around in your spare time, but don't you dare go about it so loudly that you wake everyone up. What if the neighbors had seen you?"

"Mind your business," he snarled without a backwards glance. He did not stop walking until he had gone through the front door, weaved through the house's many ornate and modern pieces of furniture, and past the amazed stares of the maids. Riku shoved the boy into his room and stepped in after him, slamming the door shut. The brunette sprawled on the carpet, which formed a snow-hued tundra in the immense room. The winter sun was framed in the large French windows, and the light brightened the whites and pale blues of the large, sparse room. They looked at each other in silence, Riku half-seething at the boy who had ruined his day entirely and half filled with unquenchable curiosity. He was surprised by the sudden, disarming smile of the boy, who seemed unexpectedly cozy as he crossed his legs and placed his hands behind his head.

"What's your deal?" Riku muttered as he crossed the room to sit on the bed. The boy's playful expression and soft eyes made him vaguely uncomfortable. He was unused to friendliness, especially from strangers.

"You haven't changed at all." The boy went on smiling, teasing. "I guess you aren't Ansem after all, 'cause you aren't spewing any junk at me about 'opening my heart to the darkness' or anything. You don't really feel like him, at least now you don't, anyways. Are you gonna start remembering who I am now? We haven't been apart long enough for you to forget my name, have we?"

"Listen, kid, I told you I've never seen you before in my life. Anyways, you have a lot to explain to me, and I—" The boy had rolled to his feet, and the blink of an eye he stood in front of Riku, all traces of amusement gone from his expression. He was studying Riku's face as if it were a math problem, his deep sea eyes filled with worry, disappointment, and confusion. Riku stared back, not wanting to back down but at the same time wishing that the boy would give him some breathing room.

"Hey...you're not kidding, are you?" The boy put a gloved hand on Riku's head, touching the soft silver gently. "You…really don't remember me, do you, Riku?"

He pulled away, his discomfort magnified by a hundred times over by the boy's proximity and by the feeling in his eyes. "No, I really don't know you. Care to fill me in? You came out of nowhere. You thought you knew me, which is pretty damn impossible because I don't know you, and then you decided I was possessed by somebody else and tried to toast me with a gigantic key. Let's start there, kid." He folded his arms over the chest of his black hoodie, and waited for the explanation.

A pout danced across his Sora's lips, and he dropped his hands on his hips. "For starters, my name's not 'kid'. It's Sora, and we grew up together on an island—well, on another world—"

"Excuse me? Another _world?"_

The brunette waved a hand impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, you know, like from the stars. You saw me when I crashed in the middle of the street, right? Well anyways—"

"Wait, that was you? Are you trying to tell me that you can travel from world to world? As in through _space_?"

"Yeah, but that's the issue, see, 'cause I shouldn't be able to move from world to world, that only started with the Heartless—"

"With the _what_?"

Sora peered at the other boy, running nervous fingers through his thick chestnut hair. "You can't even remember the Heartless?"

Riku crossed his arms and glared back, leashing his fury and annoyance. "How am I supposed to know about things that never happened to me? This whole day has been damn ridiculous from the start. Number one, I think you're crazy. Is this a game show or something?"

"Are you nuts?" Sora laughed. "I finally manage to find you, thanks to the Keyblade, and you can't remember a thing. You can at least remember Kairi right?"

"…I think I've just been dropped into the fucking Twilight Zone. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Sora was beginning to look a little desperate now. "Riku… think about it. There must be a reason I'm here, right? I mean, people don't fall outta the sky everyday! And there has to be reason that _you're _here, when you should be with King Mickey somewhere, behind the Door…"

"King--? Alright, you know what? I'm going to go to school now. And if you're not out of here in five minutes, I'm calling the cops, you hear me?" Riku pushed past the protesting boy and trotted down the grand marble staircase, squeezing his eyes shut against an incoming migraine. "The things people will do for an autograph," he mumbled with disgust. Why couldn't his mother just keep her raving fans to herself?

The teen strolled out into the garage, twirling his keys lazily in one hand. The enormous room contained at least twenty of his mother's cars—Riku always lost count of the exact number. The shiny vehicles were doused in the rosy fire of the morning light, which seeped through the ceiling-to-floor bulletproof windows.

"G'morning Mister Riku!" The heavyset guard waved from his cubicle, his pleasant face spread in an amiable grin as he addressed his employer's son. "What can I get'cha? The red Porsche is runnin' rather smoothly today, but the Royce matches tha' color of your jacket there, fancy that—"

"Riku! Wait up!" The sound of sprinting feet drumming towards them prodded the guard into jumping to attention. The man pulled his pistol from the buckle of his trousers and leapt in front of Riku, aiming the gun at an extremely startled Sora.

"Don't kill him, Carlo," Riku laughed, amused at the standoff between the fifty-year-old guard and the stalker kid. "You'll be filing the damn police reports all day!"

Sora's lips twisted with frustration. "Hey, gramps! Move it! I'm trying to have a conversation and you're not see-through, ya know!"

"What'd you say to me, ya little punk?" The man's ruddy cheeks flared with color and he lunged out, ready to give the little brat a thorough beating for his rudeness. Unfortunately for Carlo, though, Sora was rather used to being attacked by foes much larger than he. Riku's eyes caught the glint of the gigantic key as it slashed through the air, magic flowing from its blade.

"_Stopga!" _The guard froze midair, his face a mask of surprise, his body completely forgetting how to move. Everything within the vicinity stilled, even the particles of dust that floated through the windows' beams of light and a tiny fly that happened to be buzzing by.

"How'd you do that?" asked Riku, wide-eyed with astonishment.

"Magic, of course," said Sora, as though he were merely explaining why the sky was blue. "He'll be fine in a couple of minutes."

"So… you really want me to believe that you're from another world. And that you can do magic." Riku paced away from the frozen form of Carlo--the stillness of the man was eerie.

"That's right." Sora followed, his hands casually resting behind his head.

"And what exactly is it that you want from me?"

"Whaddya mean? You're coming with me, of course." Sora glanced back at the sound of a slamming door. It sounded as though the guard had fled though a side door.

"The magic kid from Jupiter wants me to join him on an adventure." Riku turned with a smirk, his hands falling to his hips.

"Uh, well I don't know what a Jupiter is, but I do want you to come. After all, I've been looking for you for the longest time—and I have so much to tell you—"

Derisive laughter bubbled up from the older teen's throat. "Listen, kid. Unless you can give me some solid proof of this magic, or how you can travel to whatever world you're talking about, then I'm just gonna hop in my car and be on my way."

The world-traveler frowned, nibbled briefly on his lip in thought, then slowly closed his azure eyes. His silhouette was outlined in light, from both the windows and from within. The boy seemed to be focused inwards, his face a mask of serene concentration as the glow dusted his body in golden light. Riku heard his breathing dwindle into nothingness, and could feel a pleasant sensation paint his body in warmth. The ivory key pulsed into existence, where it hovered horizontally between them.

_Come, come. Take it, wielder, come, I've been calling… _A voice that had no voice, somehow familiar, ancient but fresh with a brimming power…

Without permission, but feeling that Sora wanted him to—that he _had _to—Riku clasped the winged handle and pulled the weapon from midair. He explored the elegantly carved design with his eyes, and the light danced along the blade like the sun against the sea. He was immediately overcome by sleepiness, as though the magic of the key had filled him with a gentle draught that dragged his eyelids down.

_Oathkeeper._

The name flashed in his mind, and Riku said it aloud without wondering how or why he knew it. Sora remained perfectly still, witnessing but not interfering with the Keyblade's magic. The key spoke to him, in words that slid through his consciousness like a hazy dream.

_Soul Eater has returned to the side of its former master…_

_Wielder, this world is not your own._

_You must find the true…_

_Memories, tender strands and chains of heart, must be forged once again._

_The light… you hold._

_The shadow… you must seek._

_When the raven and the dove become as one, call upon our brother's name…_

_You are the one who will open the door…_

_You are…_

The turquoise-eyed boy awoke with a start. He gazed at the Keyblade, but its cryptic message seemed complete and it flashed out of existence leaving Riku's fist empty and his mind full of questions. His body trembled from the aftereffects of Oathkeeper's potent spell, and his mind was suddenly finding it easier to grasp that, somehow, magic _did_ exist after all. "I am what?" he questioned no one in particular. "If I… really don't belong here… then who am I?"

"Do you really want to know?" Sora grinned, abruptly cheerful again. "I don't know what it said to you, but the Keyblade hasn't led me astray yet. It led me to here to you, after all. So… let's go."

Riku's suspicious gaze lifted to the boy's face. "Go where?"

Sora laughed, jamming his hands into the pockets of his red jumper. "I dunno…wherever Oathkeeper takes us. You won't find your answers here. So, let's go to other worlds…together!"

"But…how?"

"See for yourself."

The boy extended an open hand, summoning the Keyblade's power. All the light in the room swept forward and encircled his form, lifting his feet inches above the floor. Even the sun seemed to lose its shine; the world became a void of darkness with a single nucleus of light which rested within Sora. A delicious, golden scent wafted through the room, and Riku understood—the dream—

"Are you afraid?"

What did he have to lose? His current existence, under the thumb of his conceited mother? He had no friends here, only fawning admirers who followed him around at school like lovesick puppies. What did he have to gain? A memory of a past self, which he wasn't sure he believed in? An escape from this world, which was all he had known, yet despised? The friendship of this boy, who beckoned him with a smile on his face and a challenge in his eyes…

It was enough.

The sterling-haired boy grasped Sora's hand, answering the other boy's smile with a grin of his own. "Afraid? Not on your life."

The arms of the light enclosed them, and where they had stood there was now nothing—as if they had never existed at all. Outside, the first snow flurries of the day began to fall.

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	2. Fiddlers Three

**Author's Notes**: Yay, at last! The next chapter is here. It took a long time to get out because I _had _to finish Kingdom Hearts II, which was AWESOME by the way. I think I nearly passed out at the end. Plus, this chapter was delayed because I edited it over, and over, and over, and over… obsessive compulsive? Not me! ;)

Anyways, thanks to all the people who reviewed last chapter, you guys REALLY make my day! And a big shout-out to The Mangosity, who alerted me to the fact that I double-posted the first chapter and did not notice for nearly a month. Embarassing... thanks, Mango! So without further delay, here's chapter two!

Read and review, please!

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It was in a world far, far away from the second wielder's. A place where the rich skin of the land was covered in tangled jungle and great hills, with the undulating silver line of a river carved into the vegetation like a gilded snake. Everywhere, huge trees held their twisted branches and thick crowns of emerald leaves in offering to the sunlit sky, like motionless giants who had stood sentinel there since the beginning of time.

Deep within this jungle, there laid a spot where a ring of logs had been arranged on the leafy ground. Near the logs squatted a stout statue of an elephant, its small face chipped and worn by abandonment and time. A halo of light shone down through a clearing in the branches and gave clear view of the cloud-streaked, cerulean sky. This place was sacred, and it was in this place that the trio of cloaked figures chose to wait. They had endured, ever patient, bearing the steamy breath of the humid forest and the merciless sun and the monotony because _they _were coming. And _their _arrival would signal the beginning of everything—and the end.

He sensed it first. The standing figure turned his face into the blaring sunlight, and raised a finger to point at the blip of fiery magic forming in the midst of the topaz blue sky.

"There they are," stated the first.

"Finally!" sighed the second. "Master was right. Oathkeeper chose to bring them to this world because it sensed our darkness." The man dropped the twig he'd been fiddling with and stood, stretching his stiff legs and yawning robustly. Once his muscles felt less like wood and more like flesh, he turned to face the robed female. "You know what to do, don't you?" the second figure questioned the last of the three.

"Of course. And how I long to see my dearest companion once again." The third laughed, a sound like the twanging of a violin string. She licked her painted lips in anticipation of blood and smiled.

"He isn't allowed to see you until we secure a Source. We don't want them to interfere until it's too late. Don't forget that," said the second. Her lusty laugh and hunger for hearts made his lip curl in blatant disgust. _What a fledgling. _

"As you wish, m'lord." The third figure disintegrated into a haze of onyx smoke, her soft cackle still ringing in the clearing.

The second gazed up into the sky, where the pool of fire was pulsing like a drop of blood. Soon it would fall, bringing closer the two hearts chosen by destiny's hand… _them_. "I hope she doesn't ruin the plan. It may have been a mistake to bring her here," said the second. "But aren't you excited?"

The first figure did not tear his eyes from the meteor that was bringing _them _into this world.

"Ever the quiet one," laughed the second, in genuine amusement. "Well, if you can hear me in whatever world you're in, do me a favor and release some of your—ah, friends—seeing as the shadows alone have been insufficient. Be sure to do it before moonset, alright?"

Silence from the first, who was wondering if soon he'd be able to feel _them, _the staccato of their hearts, the blood throbbing in all those tiny veins. But he had heard. He extended a hand, wiggling his fingers rapidly. Darkness oozed from his palm, pulsing as though alive. The first squeezed his fist shut, and then flicked the shimmering glob of darkness into the tangle of trees.

"Happy hunting," said the second man with a smile, before he disappeared into a nebula of shadow.

---

_And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image._

_Revelation 16:2_

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Aphelion

02: Fiddlers Three

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The shimmering ball of light crashed through the canopy of the jungle, spraying sparks through the treetops. Hordes of colorful birds squawked and took wing as the falling star toppled trees and splashed, smoldering, in a broad, icy river. Riku surfaced, sputtering as he cleared his face of the lily pads that floated atop the blue-green water. He stroked through the river and pulled himself up onto the shallow bank, cursing softly. The boy checked himself over. His body seemed intact, but the flank of the black hoodie was shredded into useless scraps. He was pulling off the soaked garment and squeezing the water from his yellow undershirt when Sora came paddling up with Keyblade in hand, grinning like a kid who had just been blasted around on a rollercoaster ride.

Riku glared, flipping his silver from his face. "Let's never, ever do that again."

"Aw, c'mon Riku! It was kinda fun, up until the part when we started hitting the branches. Not cool." The boy heaved himself onto the leafy shore, and regarded his torn and wet clothes with an air of resignation. "Well, at least we're alive, right?"

"Thanks to the fact that we landed in a river and not on a cliff." Riku examined the mass of enormous trees that surrounded them. Oathkeeper's descent had burned a hole through the thick roof of branches, and a single beam of light pierced through the muggy, hazy air. All around them was the sound of chittering animals and running water, paired with the sweet aroma of magnolia blossom and earth. In every eyeful danced a symphony of color—boughs heavy with fistfuls of papayas and bananas, flowers of every hue carpeting the soft earth.

_Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore, _he thought, slightly delirious from the fall and the exhilaration of the journey. "I can't believe that this actually worked," he wondered aloud. "I mean, who would've thought that traveling between worlds was really possible? That key of yours is amaz—"

Sora interrupted with a sudden hiss of pain. He doubled over, fingers clenched in the material of his shirt.

"Hey. You okay?" Riku asked, resting a hand between the brunette's shoulder blades and bending down to peer into his scrunched face. The muscles underneath his palm quivered and twitched as though tiny animals were trapped beneath his skin.

The younger boy gripped his abdomen and bit back another cry, but managed to give Riku a watery smile. "Unh… it's nothing. Just that warping from world to world is something kinda new for me, and—ugh—it takes up a lot of energy. Don't worry about me." Sora trembled as his breath rattled between his ribs.

"Maybe you should take a break."

"No... " He steadily inhaled, and the shaking stopped. "I'm ok. It's gone now." Riku raised a skeptical eyebrow, arms crossed. "No, really! I'm fine." The boy straightened up and beamed, raising Oathkeeper in a heroic stance.

"All better, see? Nuthin' to worry about."

"Riiight. If you're sure." At Sora's enthusiastic nod, Riku turned away to scrutinize the landscape, missing the flicker of pain on the other's face as he flitted nervous fingers over his abdomen.

"So, where are we, anyways?"

"I don't really know. Could be Deep Jungle, but somehow I don't think so." He touched the Keyblade to his chest, frowning slightly. "Oathkeeper has nothing to say."

Riku smirked, feeling amused. "So basically we're going to wander around here until someone—or something—attacks us, we get a lead, or until we die of old age in the middle of nowhere."

"You really should think positive, Riku! Just think of it this way. We're going to take a look around and see if we find something that helps you regain your memory." The brunette rested his arms behind his head, with his trademark grin dancing across his lips, and marched into the trees. "So, call your sword, and let's see the sights."

Riku stared blankly at his upraised palms. "And how exactly am I supposed to call it? I didn't do it on purpose the first time."

"Oh." Sora looked a bit startled. "Just envision it in your mind. Call its name."

Soul Eater appeared in a shimmering cloud of crimson light. Riku gave the sword a few test slashes before turning towards the other boy.

"That's how you focus your power. Don't forget." Sora crouched and placed his palms on the floor, as though he were getting ready for a marathon.

"What're you doing now?"

The brunette grinned up at Riku, before dashing off into the jungle. "Kicking your butt at a race! You didn't think we were gonna walk, did you?"

"H-hey! Get back here, you little piece of crap! You cheated!" Riku flung dignity aside and sprinted after the boy, Soul Eater glinting at his side.

The race began. The two boys hacked through the labyrinth of weeds and vines, following the path of the deep stream. Riku discovered that wielding the heavy winged blade was not as draining as the first time he had summoned it to fight Sora, and he could slice through the underbrush with relative ease. When they burst into clearings, the boys dashed through the carpet of leaves, sprinting to see who would be first to the next thicket. The friendly competition helped them push through their exhaustion, but soon the effort and the wet heat of the jungle caught up. They paused at a bend in the river, where a shallow cave of limestone provided some shelter from the swarms of insects.

"I win," Sora panted, pushing a hand through his sweat-soaked hair and laughing.

"Only because you cheated."

"You're such a sore loser."

Sora dismissed Oathkeeper in a flash of light and crouched by the water's edge. He cupped river water into his mouth while Riku slumped against the rocks, tapping the hard ground with the tip of his sword. His leg muscles ached dully, and a trickle of sweat was slipping down the crevice between his shoulder blades. Discomfort was not on his mind, however. He couldn't help thinking that he was in some prolonged daydream, and at any moment he would wake up with the New York sun on his face and his mother overhead, nagging bitterly, _You're up late, the reporters are here, your hair's a mess, I can't believe such a filthy kid is my son, you're not going to go out looking like that, are you?_

"Penny for your thoughts?" Sora flopped down at Riku's side, pulling bits of branches from his toffee-hued hair. The deepening heat of noon had begun to creep through the trees, though beneath the thick canopy the forest was blanketed in hazy shadows.

Riku massaged his neck with his graceful fingers, working out a cramp that was beginning to stiffen his muscles. He didn't meet the other boy's eyes. "Just thinking about how normal my life used to be before you showed up, kid," he remarked, but without venom. "School, cars, clothes, my psychotic mother…"

"Aren't you ever going to call me Sora?"

"Hm," Riku sighed teasingly, twisting one silver lock of hair around his finger. "Maybe."

Sora crossed his arms over his chest and huffed in irritation, but dropped the subject. "The crazy lady who jumped us in the woods is supposed to be your mom? Don't worry about it. She's not even your real mother, anyways." Sora stretched and yawned as he absentmindedly eyed a mango tree that was crooked from the weight of its delicious fruit. "Your real mom is the nicest lady you could ever find."

Riku stared at the other in complete disbelief. "And what's that supposed to mean? How can my mother not be my mother? There are records, you know. And she is one thing that I can definitely remember."

"No way. Your mom used to make us cookies after we'd get home from school. We used to fight over who'd get the one with the biggest chocolate chips…but you'd always win." Sora offered Riku a nostalgic smile, his eyelids low over his sapphire eyes. "But I guess we're not kids anymore."

Riku turned his eyes away. "If it ever happened, I can't remember."

"It did happen." A pause. Sora climbed slowly to his feet and stepped out from under the shadows of the rocks and into the mouth of the light. Dappled light from overhead nestled into his auburn hair as Sora reached on tiptoe to pluck several of the tender mangoes from the bent tree. He ducked back under the overhang and offered one of the ruby delicacies to Riku. "Do you wanna hear the story?"

The sterling-haired boy bit into the fruit, a gush of sweet juice filling his mouth with pleasure. He peeled the broken skin away with his fingers and chewed the morsel for a moment, savoring the taste.

"Do you really expect me to believe that the life I've been living is a total lie?" He turned to meet the strangely beautiful eyes of Sora.

"You can believe what you want to," said the Keyblade master earnestly. "And I'm hoping that you'll choose to believe me."

Riku paused, but decided the decision must be made. What could it hurt? "Let's hear it then."

Sora spoke. The telling of the tale devoured several lazy hours under the limestone shelter, in which the story of three island children looking for something beyond their crystalline sands and sea—their story—twisted and weaved into a fable of a desperate struggle against sin, evil, and darkness of the heart. The forced journey from the islands to other worlds, filled with mysteries and friendships for the young Keyblade master, while Riku wallowed in darkness and was overcome by the power of the sorcerer Ansem. Riku interrupted with a multitude of questions, but Sora was patient, even when the pearly-haired boy bit back a laugh when the brunette said he had stabbed himself with Riku's own Keyblade in order to free Kairi's heart ("A spark of genius," he snorted, while Sora pouted).

At last, Sora paused as he reached the climax of the tale. The great door of Kingdom Hearts had appeared and vanquished Ansem, but Sora and his two friends could not close the door to the darkness, with an infinite army of Heartless stirring in its depths.

"So… what happened?"

"You came. You pulled the door shut from the inside, while Donald, Goofy, and I pushed it closed from the outside. Then Mickey and I used our Keyblades to lock the door."

Riku envisioned the gigantic door Sora had described, fingers of shadow pushing hungrily at the frames. "But wouldn't that mean…?"

Sora's eyes squeezed shut. "That's right. You were trapped behind the Door. You and the King. I was so afraid for you…. I looked for you everywhere…." For a moment the boy's voice cracked under the pressure of his emotion, but Sora managed to push the thoughts from his mind. Riku was not ready for that yet, and he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with it either.

"But you're safe now," he continued softly, "so somehow, you must've gotten out."

"Hm. Then what happened to you?"

"We ended up in a gigantic field, with a path that we walked for days and days. After that I think there was a castle. But for some reason, I can't remember what happened there. I'm not sure, but I have a feeling I was asleep for a long time."

"Maybe that's why your clothes are so small on you," he said, gesturing to Sora's ill-fitting and torn red jumpsuit. Sora glanced down at his clothing as though he had never really noticed it before. He smiled sheepishly, before shrugging off his silly mask and becoming serious once again.

"Then I heard a voice calling me—Oathkeeper. It had never really spoken before, but it was telling me to get up, over and over, something about it being 'time at last.' So I opened my eyes but all I could see was blackness. And when I did, I remember there being more voices, but it was so dark, I couldn't see a thing. Next thing I knew, I was falling from the sky like someone had pushed me through a trapdoor. And I found you."

Riku digested the story. It was insane, to say the least, but it was also difficult not to believe when the boy who told it spoke so honestly, every expression and gesture and feeling crystal clear. But he wondered: could it even be true? Could he have lived another life on a tiny island? Plunged himself into darkness? Sacrificed himself for the sake of Sora, and their friend Kairi?

Kairi…the princess of heart. And if he understood correctly, she was Sora's "light". Why would he, Riku, have fought so hard to find her heart? He decided to try and understand the story from that point, which made so little sense in his heart numbed by the solitude he experienced in his own world.

"That girl. Kairi. Did we have feelings for her?"

Sora spun around to face his companion quickly, oceanic eyes wide with surprise and perhaps something else. Riku lounged on the ground, watching with a mixture of amusement and apprehension as a cocktail of emotions flickered over Sora's features. The aqua-eyed boy calmly licked some of the mango's syrup off of his fingers while Sora floundered for words like a drowning man searching for a bit of flotsam.

"W-what?"

"I don't think I wouldv'e gone so far as to save any old friend unless there was something more to it. So I'm asking if either you or I had any more-than-friendly feelings towards Kairi," said Riku, with a dash of his charming smile.

"Well, I—we were—ya see—Kairi was—"

"Is that a yes?"

Sora inhaled slowly, trying to rein his frantic heartbeat. He had not expected Riku to ask about Kairi so soon. "We… we did everything we could to bring her back to us because it was always the three of us. I don't really know… how you felt about her. But I know that there was—_is_—something more than friendship between me and Kairi." The brunette touched the crude star-shaped keychain that jangled from his belt and lowered his head, a faint tinge of pink smearing the boy's cheeks.

"Ah, I see." With a flick of his wrist, Riku chucked the mango rinds into the bushes. He stretched out on the ground, enjoying the feel of the cool leaves and pebbles through his undershirt. Still, something about the story nagged at him, but his traitorous voice swallowed the words before he could say them. "What a weird story."

"That may be true… but it's our story." Luminous blue eyes filled his line of sight as Sora peered down at him. "Guess you still don't believe me, huh?"

The brunette perched beside the other teen and lay down by his side. "You have to admit, it's a little farfetched," Riku mumbled.

"Yeah, the things we've done. It is a little crazy." Sora smiled wistfully as his eyes slid shut. "But I won't give up on you, Riku. We'll find your memories, somehow. But you'll always be the same, to me…"

The silver-haired boy sat up and strolled over to the clear brook for some water. He parted the deep green ferns and scooped some of the crystalline liquid into his mouth. The taste of food here seemed fresher than anything he had ever eaten, pulled from the earth in all its splendid color, unlike the pale, dull food that the maids had dished out every evening. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. _Even if the story isn't true, I hope I never have to go back there._

As Riku returned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he looked into the face of the Keyblade master and saw peace there. _How can he just fall asleep like that? _he wondered. _We're in the middle of nowhere. _Riku gazed out into the thicket of tree trunks and vines. The light dappling through the trees seemed less harsh, signaling the departure of the sun and afternoon's end. The heat of the jungle and the trickling hum of the river lured him towards the abyss of sleep. Sora rolled onto his side, snoring lightly. The other boy watched over the brunette's sleeping form for a few more moments before stretching himself beside the sleeping teen, their backs resting against each other's. In that quiet moment, his voice snuck back and spoke the question that he had wanted to ask Sora, but was too afraid to know the answer.

"Hey, kid," he whispered to the slumbering boy. "You went looking for Kairi's heart because you loved her, didn't you? So then why did you go looking for me?"

Surely Sora could not have cared _that_ much to find him.

Why would he, for just a friend?

Riku closed his eyes, allowing himself to be comforted by the steady rhythm of Sora's breathing and by his golden scent. _Even if the story isn't true…_

_The heartbeat, gentle metronome, ticking endlessly towards oblivion…_

_Falling…_

_To fear the fire…_

_He turns, blue eyes open shut not there at all…_

_Awaken…_

_He turns, blue eyes fearing the fire, sapphire against ruby, struggling light…_

_Awaken, Riku…can you feel it? Do you remember?_

_Soon…_

Riku jerked upright, pale strands of hair tousled and floating around his face. For a moment, he stared around him, bewildered by the sensation of needles being dragged against his skin. Sora stirred, dark eyelashes fluttering before revealing azure gems. The boy yawned gigantically and propped himself up on his elbows. "Whaz wrong?" he slurred.

"Don't you feel that?" Riku asked. Every nerve in his body felt like it was burning urgently, every drop of blood was alive, and his eyes felt drawn to a far-off point between the tree trunks and over the bend of the moonlit river.

The sound of an enraged cry pierced through the veil of slumber. Sora bolted up, all traces of restfulness vanishing from his body. His head darted this way and that, seeking the source of the noise. "Riku, let's go!" Oathkeeper shimmered to life, and its master tore out of the tiny cave, trampling saplings underfoot in his hurry. The green-eyed boy met his pace, disturbed by the tingling that was rushing over his entire body.

They splashed across the crystal stream and bolted into the dark, humid mouth of the jungle trees. The chatter of the forest creatures in their trees had disappeared, leaving a wake of anxious silence. Sora slashed hanging branches and vines from the path as the pair hurried. He knew this feeling, the dread that was boiling in the pit of his stomach. All he could do was pray over and over in his mind: _it's not them, it's not them, it's not, it can't be …_

Bursting through a curtain of stringy moss, Sora nearly collided right into the crumbling statue of a small elephant. He stumbled over the waist-high figure and nearly crushed his foot on an old rotting log. Riku, on the other hand, leapt gracefully over the obstacles and smirked at the clumsy boy.

"Those stationary objects are real tough enemies, I see," Riku observed with a charming smile.

"Jerk," Sora muttered. At the same time though, both of them appraised the clearing, seeking the danger that was sure to be lurking nearby.

A wolf exploded from the shrubs opposite them. Its fur, whiter than milk, rippled and stood on end as it snarled. The huge animal gave a furious bark, and a few speckles of blood and foam flew from the corners of its angry mouth.

Riku gripped Soul Eater's handle, tensing his body in preparation to spring. "At the count of three, let's take him down," he whispered under the beast's growls.

"Riku… I think it's hurt," Sora replied, watching as another trickle of red seeped from the creature's muzzle.

"So what? You're going to let it eat us?" he snapped back.

"We're not going to hurt you," Sora announced to the snarling creature.

"Are you insane?" Riku hissed.

The brunette ignored him. Cautiously, he placed the Keyblade on the ground and took a step away from it. "See? It's alright. We won't—"

The wolf pounced, moonlight glinting off its pale fur as it flew towards them, jaws wide. Riku swung back Soul Eater, ready to cut into the animal's belly, but it merely soared over his head and into the shadows of the trees. The travelers turned quickly, eyes wide with surprise. With its jaws snapping and teeth gnashing, the prancing wolf seemed to be fighting with another creature that was even larger than itself.

Suddenly, the wolf was thrown into the center of the clearing. It cried out sharply at the impact and a spray of crimson flowed from its flanks, but it struggled feebly to rise from the moonlight-stained leaves. A deep, baritone laughter echoed from the creature in the shadow.

"Akela the great, Akela the Lone Wolf! Can you not rise?" chuckled the voice.

The white animal struggled to raise its head from the ground, but its upper body seemed glued to the floor. Green eyes glared venomously towards the shadowed enemy as the wolf's haunches bunched, trying to drag itself up from the floor.

"You brought them here! It was you!" screamed the wolf, its cry rising furiously from between blood-speckled teeth.

"It was not I who summoned them," said the voice. "But they suit me well. They hate the Pack as much as I do, Akela!" The creature threw itself towards the fallen animal, ready to finish the fight.

But instead of digging into flesh, the tiger's jaws clamped around the steel blade of Oathkeeper, supported by a very angry Keyblade master.

"That's enough!" Sora pushed against the animal with all his strength, and the tiger leapt back, analyzing the newcomer with cunning eyes.

"A man cub. Not just one, but two!" bayed the beast. "What foolishness is this, Akela? Are you adding even more humans to your collection?"

"They are not mine," hissed Akela as he clawed his weakened body to all four feet. "Merely more strangers in the Jungle that mean nothing to me, Shere Khan."

"Then perhaps," laughed the tiger named Shere Khan, "you will not mind if I tear their throats before I tear yours?" The great jungle cat coiled, muscles and orange fur rippling like wet silk, and its haunches fired it towards Riku with a ground-shattering roar.

The sterling-haired teen gritted his teeth as the 500-pound animal barreled into him, his weapon and right arm pinned against the floor by a rough, leathery paw.

"Riku!" Sora was running, panic beating the drum of his heart and speeding his legs, but he was too far away, there was no time to make it—

The tiger's mouth was open, hurtling down towards the soft flesh of the boy's throat—

And Riku did the only thing he could possibly do. It was as if his mind slipped away in an instant, and was replaced by another one that was older, colder, and more calculating than his own. His left arm jerked forward and he raised a palm to the beast's face.

_Sinners wrought by shadow fire in blue darkness unbound **know your place!**_

And from his hand welled a ball of pulsing, hot shadow veined with green light that knocked the great beast back. It howled with shock and pain, tumbling over its own paws as it skidded into the elephant statue with a loud crack.

"What the hell--?" Riku stared out his outstretched hand, his surprise mirrored exactly on Sora's face.

"Riku, what did you just—?"

"I have no idea!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet.

But the tiger was already back on all fours, more enraged than ever. "You wish to play with me, mortals?" the animal boomed in fury. "Then you shall face the true might of Shere Khan, ruler of all the Jungle!"

Every strand of fur on the tiger's back was rising, spark of darkness dancing along its spine. Akela bared his teeth and leapt away to land at Sora's side.

"You do not yet understand," hissed the old wolf. "This creature is not truly alive."

"It's a ghost?" Sora asked, brandishing Oathkeeper forward as Riku dashed to his side with Soul Eater at the ready.

"There is no time to explain. Man-cub, have you not any of the Red Flower, which only men possess?"

"A flower? Why would I have a flower?" he responded in confusion, eyes focused on the tiger as it swelled with dark power.

"Not a flower," Riku realized, remembering the dreams with a flash of insight. "He's talking about fire. _To fear the fire._ You can use magic, can't you?"

Sora nodded once. He sprinted forward, Keyblade twirling and glowing gold with sorcery, and pointed to the tiger with Oathkeeper's tip. _"Firaga!"_

A deluge of flame blasted from the end of the pearly weapon and scorched Shere Khan's face and back. With an ear-shattering scream, the tiger was engulfed in fire that devoured his body until they could see his bones outlined against the light. Then, with a flash, the beast was gone, leaving only smoldering ashes. Sora whipped around and came back to where the wolf and the other boy stood in amazement.

"Are you ok, Riku?" He nodded, flexing his fingers and examining his hands. Where had _that _come from?

"Good." Sora held the Keyblade over the wolf's head. Akela bared his teeth at the boy, too weak to fight back, but Sora only smiled and met the wolf's distrusting look with calm azure eyes.

"It won't hurt. It'll make you feel better." Green light trickled from Oathkeeper's blade and the animal shook its head in surprise as its wounds stopped oozing and sealed themselves with new, pink skin.

"So, what was that thing?" Sora began. "You said it wasn't really ali—oof!" With a blur of movement, something tackled the brunette and landed between the humans and the wolf. Sora rubbed his chest, wincing, as he propped himself up to see the attacker.

"What now?" Riku growled, fists tight around Soul Eater's hilt. This was certainly turning into one of the weirdest days in his life: filled with dreams, voices, ghosts, and talking animals.

"Mowgli!" cried the white wolf.

"Don't worry, Akela. I'll kill them."

In front of the travelers stood a human boy, with jet black hair that flowed halfway down his back and skin tanned dark by the forest sun. He wore a scrap of cloth around his waist which hardly covered anything, and had the lean but muscular look of a wild animal. He appeared younger than them by a couple of years, but he had eyes that were like deep pools of water, an adult's eyes. A long knife clasped between his deft fingers glowed in the moonlight.

"Who are you?" he snapped in a youthful, but authoritative voice. "Have you come to bring us more trouble?"

"We could ask the same thing," muttered Riku.

"Um…" The Keyblade master tapped his chest. "I'm Sora. And this is Riku."

"Foreigners," the boy snarled, ready to pounce.

"Mowgli," said the wolf, "these cubs have saved my life. It was Shere Khan whom we sensed in the Jungle, not these two. Because they have saved the leader of the Pack, they cannot be killed despite their trespassing. We are indebted."

The boy lowered his knife with a surprised look toward his elder, but he bowed slightly towards the other humans. "If you have truly saved my friend here, then I'm grateful. I apologize for hitting you," he said to Sora.

"It's alright." The brunette climbed to his feet and offered his cheerful grin.

"Hey, you. Akela, or whatever your name is. You said that the tiger wasn't real, right? So what the hell was it?"

The old wolf seemed unruffled by Riku's rude tone, though Mowgli frowned. "Lately, in the Jungle, we have been having a bit of trouble after the sun goes down…"

---

The night sky was heavy with clouds that streaked across the full moon and its court of stars. Against the face of the moon, a hooded figure watched the proceedings of the Keyblade wielders' night. He was disappointed: He could not feel their hearts after all, despite his attempts to hone in on the rhythms, to feel them in his own hollow chest, to reach out and grab the strings of their hearts and twist until they tore. With a throb of darkness, another figure appeared at his side and interrupted his musings. Silence, tickled by the sound of whispering wind, was broken as the second spoke.

"Riku was able to tap into the darkness for a moment. Was he starting to remember?"

"No," answered the other. He was in a sour mood. "Merely a flash. Perhaps influence from Oblivion."

"That's a shame!" laughed the second. "But I guess it doesn't matter yet, now does it? The players are all coming together. We've found a way in. And soon, we will be able to make contact with Sora's light."

The first allowed a smile to grace his shadowed features. The prophecy was soon to be fulfilled, at long last.

The second grinned and spread his arms wide as if to grasp the stars. "Now then! Let's watch destiny give us one helluva show!"

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Oh hoooo, the little plot chunks are coming together. Now that you've read, please review!


	3. Crushing the Ember, Sparking the Flame

It's been a while... college applications and all that jazz... but here it is! Enjoy, and review!

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Aphelion

03: Crushing the Ember, Sparking the Flame

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Mowgli charged into the fray of moving bodies, screaming in rage. But Sora was faster, and angrier, and he pushed past the surprised boy. Whipping Oathkeeper forward, the Keyblade master gave a single bound over the fallen bodies of the Wolf-People, and slashed at the shadowy form of the tiger. _"Firaga!"_

Flame bloomed from the ivory key and scorched the back of Shere Khan. The dark monster bayed in fury as the wound began to bleed black, curling smoke. It swiped an enormous paw through the air to swat the boy from the sky. Sora shoved the Keyblade between its red claws and managed to push the danger away. But he was off balance now, and Shere Khan roared in thunderous victory as his shadow tail snapped through the air, straight for Sora—

The black blade of Soul Eater diced through the creature's tail. Onyx blood spattered the wolves and the leafy ground as Riku landed neatly on the creature's back. He drew his blade up, ready to plunge it into Shere Khan's spine, but it yowled a curse and melted away into a cloud of black smoke, leaving only its surprised victims behind. Riku shifted out of his stance and quickly made his way over to where Sora was struggling to rise.

The brunette didn't meet Riku's inquiring eyes. "Thanks," he mumbled vaguely as he rolled to his feet and brushed his tattered red clothing.

Riku leaned against Soul Eater with a grin. "So, the Keyblade Master couldn't handle just one Heartless? And I've never been in combat before--how's that for natural talent?"

Sora was examining the raw, bleeding hide of one of the fallen wolves. He threw Riku a sour look but didn't retort as he touched the animal's flank with Oathkeeper. "_Cura. _You _have_ been in combat before! Tons of times! And it wasn't just a Heartless. There was something different. _Cura," _he said again, casting the glowing green spell on the injured Wolf-People.

Before Riku could ask what was different, Bagheera ambled forward with Mowgli at his side. "The two of you have saved the Wolf-People, my brothers, from certain doom. I am indebted. Thou art the masters," said Mowgli sincerely, his dark eyes glimmering.

The Keyblade bearer offered the boy a smile, but his sapphire eyes were disturbed by shadows. "It's not a problem," Sora said gently, pushing his chocolate brown hair from his face. He continued to study the black, smoking wounds of the wolf in front of him, occasionally prodding the fur with gloved fingers.

"If you need us, we will be over there," Bagheera gestured with a silky paw. "We will help attend to the injured as well." The panther moved off, taking a reluctant Mowgli with him.

"Riku," the boy called suddenly, grabbing the other boy's pant leg. "Look at this."

The silver-haired teen bent down to examine the panting animal's side. Scorched in the tawny fur of the animal was an oozing, tar-like wound. Veins sprouted from the cut, black rivulets outlined against the wolf's pale skin. The bloody streaks etched the image of a heart dashed with an 'x' in the middle. Riku inhaled sharply but made no comment.

"Master!" moaned the wolf, its legs twitching in agony. "Am I to die…?"

Sora stroked the animal's head, his movements slow and his gaze faraway as he stared upwards at the dark canopy of the jungle. "No," he murmured softly. "Just rest now. You'll be alright." Oathkeeper hummed with more tender green light on the wound, and the wolf placed its weary head on the leafy ground and waited, still trembling with pain. Sora rose slowly, entranced in thought as he wandered away from the battle scene. Riku followed.

"What is it?" asked Riku once they were out of earshot of the wolves. "Hey, focus for a sec. What's wrong?" He grabbed Sora's arm, halting the other teen's racing thoughts.

"They were supposed to be gone."

"The Heartless, right? That's what the mark was, on that wolf. The exed-out heart."

"This… this is different," Sora said as he perched on a rotted log, not caring if his raggedy clothing got even more soiled.

"How? The Heartless would invade a world and steal everyone's heart. Then, the world would be plunged into darkness. So, if it really is starting again, what's so different?" Riku leaned casually against a tree trunk, arms crossed as he watched the wolves carry away their injured. At the same time

"It's more like a sickness than an invasion. Wounds with Heartless symbols in them. I haven't even seen one of the enemies I fought before I closed the door." His tattered yellow sneakers pawed restlessly at the leaf litter and his eyes stared vacantly at the lush velvet sky peeking between the thick branches. Dark chestnut eyelashes curled against tanned skin as he pondered this new predicament, and Riku wondered what kind of plan could possibly be hatching in that spiky head.

"We can't let it happen here. We're not going to let it!" The brunette suddenly sprung from the log and beamed at Riku, a glint of manic courage in his sapphire gaze. "We'll go to Cold Lairs—that's where Bagheera said they hide."

"Don't be stupid," the silver-haired boy interrupted. "We'll get killed if that tiger is there, and we can't ask the Jungle-People for help if the Heartless make them sick. Doesn't matter if we did; they were getting their asses kicked earlier anyways."

Sora brushed aside the comment with a wide gesture of his hands. "We won't have to tell them! We'll find out where the 'Cold Lairs' are, then we bust in there and kick some tail. We're sure to find out something about the Heartless along the way, right? No problem." The excitement in the Keyblade master's voice dimmed as he carefully scanned his companion's face, which had gone rigid with concentration.

"Riku…?"

"Be quiet. I smell something." Sora's eyebrows raised in confusion and he mouthed, _what are you, a dog? _But Oathkeeper shimmered into his hand anyways, ready for action. Riku's cautious gaze swept over the trees, the leafy ground, and into the deep wells of shadows. The scent was faint, but foreign, and it made his skin tingle in a strange way. He decided it smelled something like a bird—like feather dust, a cool night, and leaves—but he could not pinpoint the source.

"It's too faint," he muttered.

"Since when have you been able to smell auras?" Sora questioned.

"I don't know… I've always had a good sense of smell."

_No, you haven't, _the ocean-eyed boy thought, wondering what this could mean. _Only those who hold the darkness have such powerful senses of smell, like the Heartless, with their cakey yellow eyes and wriggling antenna, how they can smell your blood and the fibers of your tasty heart—_ but he did not voice his uneasiness. Peril and experience had worn down his naiveté, and if Riku really _was _Ansem—as much as he shuddered at the thought—then he didn't want the homicidal man living inside his friend's soul to know that the Keyblade master was on to the game. Sora nodded, a grin slipping easily onto his face as he beckoned to Riku.

"We should get back to Mowgli and the others. They'll be wondering what happened to us." He reluctantly dismissed the Keyblade in a flash a light, his nerves alight with slight anxiety. Something was wrong, and had been wrong ever since Oathkeeper had led him to an amnesic Riku, then dropped him into this jungle where he could feel something evil rising around him like a temperature, but he could not place the feeling or its source. The adventure was supposed to end with the closing of the Door…

Wasn't it?

The two boys found the bear and the boy resting in the clearing, which was still splattered with wolf blood and torn bits of fur and flesh. Baloo approached them with Mowgli close behind, his solemn young eyes filled with fire.

"How is everyone?" asked Sora.

Baloo shook his head. "The wounds will not close, no matter the number of healing herbs we apply. Many wolves will be return to the earth tonight."

Sora lowered his eyes. "I see," he responded. "Thank you for trying to help us fight Shere Khan… but only we can fight the shadows." His head snapped up, gaze suddenly fierce like a turbulent sea.

"The Jungle is our home," said Mowgli. "We will help you any way we can."

"We have someone for you to meet," said Baloo, scratching his brown hide with a long claw as he peered nearsightedly at the young travelers. "A few moons ago, another animal came to the Jungle. He wields the Red Flower but walks on four legs like the beast. We do not quite understand what he is, but I believe he may be able to help you in your fight against the darkness. Let us go to meet him, and leave this accursed place. Bagheera has gone ahead to find him."

The great bear lumbered into the woods, with the three humans following closely. They followed him through the thick jungle foliage, pushing past vine-encrusted trunks and sharp brambles as they snaked their way towards the river. Riku glanced at the glowing, scratched face of his watch. If time ran on the same path in different worlds, than it was nearly 9:15. The night was just beginning.

The group finally reached the river's edge, where the shallow water caressed the sides of the rocks in a slow trickle. On the other side of the stream, they could spot the forms of two creatures, crouching low in the shadows.

"I am going to say the master words, the code of help and friendship in the Jungle. You would do well to remember them," explained Mowgli. He cupped a calloused hand around his mouth, and cried out over the river bed.

"_We are of one blood, you and I."_ The call echoed eerily from the treetops, shaking sleeping birds from their roosts as they took wing into the night sky.

"Ah, Mowgli," Bagheera's voice responded. "You've finally arrived."

The creatures leapt over the water at the code words, and in the trickled moonlight Riku and Sora could see an animal that they had never seen before. It resembled a lean panther, with ruby red fur and a cropped auburn mane that was decorated with feathers. Its sinewy legs were tattooed with strange designs, and four golden bangles graced its slender paws. Crimson eyes sparked with intelligence as the beast whipped his flaming tail, bowing politely.

"I am called Red XIII," said the feline. "And you are?"

"The name's Sora," the brunette greeted, and took the animal's outstretched paw into a handshake.

"Riku," said the other as he too shook Red's paw. "What exactly are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I am exactly as you see," Red answered unhelpfully, pulling his paw away quickly. Was it just Riku, or did he see the animal's eyes widen in surprise when they touched?

"So, how exactly did you get here, Red?" Sora questioned.

"Well, that in itself is quite an interesting story," he said as the fiery eyes locked into Sora's face. "But it'll have to wait for another time. Bagheera here tells me that something more important is happening as we speak."

"Sora, Riku. I fear that I may have to ask you to go to the Cold Lairs and face the darkness that lies there." The panther's tail twitched in agitation. "I hate to ask this of you, but it seems that the wounds inflicted by Shere Khan to the Wolf People have caused some kind of madness—they seem to be losing control of themselves—"

"What!" Mowgli cried, grabbing Baloo's forearm in a vice grip. He stared into his mentor's eyes, filled with fear and fury. "Baloo, why didn't you tell me--?"

"Peace, Mowgli! We do not want you to do anything foolish, do you understand?" Bagheera hissed under his whiskers.

"My mother and father, they fought the tiger, what happened to them?" Mowgli's fist tightened around the bear's wrist. "Have they been affected?"

"Your father seems to not have any symptoms, but Raksha, your mother…"

"What? _What happened!"_

"Little Brother, I am sorry… she has turned into one of the soldiers of darkness…" For a second, Mowgli was still, and the only sound was the weeping trickle of the river. Then the boy bolted towards the trees, howling in rage.

"Brother, wait—!"

"_Stopga!"_ A flash of light, and Riku saw Oathkeeper's ivory frame swish through the air. Mowgli's body was suspended in mid-run, and his astonished friends gasped in fear. Red scrutinized the Keyblade master with interest, but made no move to act.

"He's not hurt," Sora said, clenching the soft grips of his Keyblade. "He can still hear us. Keep talking, and if he wants to leave when the magic wears off, then let him."

Bagheera's eyes spoke of fear, but the panther continued, his posture relaxed. "It seems as though those who had open wounds and were touched by the blood of the tiger were taken by the madness. They tried to bite the others but were too weak from injury to properly attack. Their eyes turned the color of the old moon, and they fled into the jungle, towards the Cold Lairs. Akela knows not what to do with his pack. His wisdom in leading the wolves does not extend to such a disaster."

"So you're asking us to just march in there?" Riku asked, folding his arms over his chest with impatience. The smell was still lingering in his nostrils, the faintest stench of darkness, and it was making him anxious.

Baloo lowered his great shaggy head to regard the agitated youth. "I am afraid that I cannot spring as I once could, and Bagheera must stay behind to assist in the order of the Pack. But Red will assist you, and perhaps Mowgli as well. Little Brother, what say you?"

Stopga's magic had worn off, but Mowgli still stood facing away, the muscles of his shoulders trembling beneath tanned skin.

"I will help. Though the wolves have cast me out of the pack because I am a man—they cannot look me between the eyes for fear—they are still my brothers. And my mother, who cradled me between her paws when I was a cub… I cannot betray her, despite my anger at the Pack. I will go, and by the Jungle that bore me, I will save them all."

"Well said," murmured Bagheera under his fine whiskers.

------

Weaving through the tree trunks, feet flying, breath staggering under parted lips, the trio of humans and the feline made their way through the Jungle. As they approached the Cold Lairs, the humid, heavy air thinned into wisps of frigid fog and cloudy tentacles that caressed their legs and faces.

"It's freezing!" Sora complained.

"It is not much further," said Mowgli, and despite his determined expression Riku guessed that the scantily-clad boy was probably cold as well. Riku, however, couldn't feel the dropping temperature at all. Soon, Mowgli waved a hand at the others to signal them to stop. They ducked into some nearby bushes and gazed in silent apprehension and wonder at the sight before them.

From the twisted tree trunks and thick vines, the ruins of a city emerged—crumbling marble citadels and summerhouses, stone palaces and broken shrines. However, the most notable feature of the Cold Lairs was the frosting of black ice that had crept over the ruins and spires of dark frost which now hung from the belly of the gigantic stone gate. Wolf sentinels paced the gates, their furs stained with dark blood that dewed from their Heartless-shaped wounds. Yellow eyes roved over the landscape, searching for traces of movement, ready to pounce.

"Incredible," Red murmured, tucking his flaming tail underneath himself to hide the light. "Frost in a subtropical jungle. Is this some kind of magic?"

"Yeah, something like that," Sora muttered, distracted by the dread clenching his heart. He cast a discreet glance at Riku, whose brows were pinched together in thought. _If he were Ansem… now is the time he'd show himself. We're surrounded by these Heartless wolves, or whatever they are, so now's the time…_

"So how are we getting in?" Riku asked. His nose was tingling with the stench of blood hanging over the area, making him slightly dizzy. He gripped the leather hilt of Soul Eater until he lost the feeling in his fist, his nerves jangled by the combined smell and the chilling sensation that rippled off the Heartless. Could it really be possible that he had once befriended this darkness? It seemed almost insane, but compared with the equally insane ideas of world-hopping and key-sealing, it was nearly _normal_…

"We should probably formulate some kind of diversion strategy," said Red, his garnet-colored eyes examining the enemy through the screen of the bushes. "We can't waste time with all the minions. Where would the boss be?"

Mowgli rolled his spear uneasily in his fingers. "Shere Khan would probably lurk in the Tower. From there, you can see the entire city and much of the jungle. From here, we shall go up the great staircase and into the courtyard—"

"Um… I don't think that we have time for that," Sora interrupted.

"And may I ask why not?" the feline huffed indignantly.

"'Cause it looks like they found us!" Sora rocketed to his feet and slashed Oathkeeper forward in battle stance, his eyes glued to the frosted gates of the ruined city. Blossoming from the stone and ice like morbid, bruised flowers were the Shadow Heartless. Attracted by the scent of fresh hearts, they pounced from their perches and melted into the ground, oozing rapidly toward them. At their heels were the transformed wolves, eyes rolling maniacally and black tongues hanging out.

"Make a run for it!" Sora yelled. The brunette dashed towards the gate, sliding on the black ice but still managing to rip three of Shadows to shreds. Red pounced on two of the wolves, tearing at them with his fiery tail and claws while Mowgli bashed the head of the other with his spear, knocking it away. Soul Eater dispatched of the rest of the Shadows as they sprinted through the gate and into ruined city.

"To the staircase!" Mowgli cried. All around them, the citrine eyes of the Heartless were winking awake, puddling upwards from the trees, the ice, and the stone. They multiplied rapidly, plopping from every crevice and hopping after the group as they flew up the grand staircase, which was deformed by time and marred by creeping vines. The Shadows danced after them as the trio of humans and the feline emerged from the crumbling staircase into what had formerly been a magnificent courtyard of marble and palms, now slicked over with dark glacial masses.

But they never made it any further into that ruined city.

Because from the Tower charged the mutated, oil-black form of Shere Khan, followed by his legion of Heartless wolves. Mowgli gave a cry of anguish and rage as the canines circled around them, his friends and packmates among the ranks of the enemy. And hovering over the entire evil scene was someone Sora had hoped never to see again.

The witch raised her pale hands to the night sky, summoning more legions of Heartless from the trees rotted by the dark magic. Her painted lips slid into a lazy smile and as she lowered her delicate staff, the frayed ends of her black robes flapping like ravens' wings in the chill wind. She floated down from her tower post, feet lightly grazing the back of Shere Khan, whose impatient snarling sounded like a freight train.

"Ah, Riku…my dear boy. How good it is to see you again."

"Don't you talk to him!" Sora shouted, his fists balled in anger. Oathkeeper flashed into his hands, glowing gold with his master's fury.

The witch ignored the brunette's comment, examining the older teen with calculating, coal black eyes. "Why the confused face? Do you not recognize your mistress?"

"Afraid not, lady," he remarked, twirling Soul Eater in his hand. He flipped a few strands of sterling hair from his face and locked gazes with the woman. "But from what Sora has told me, you're Maleficent, right? The bitch witch who led the Heartless and fell into her own trap."

The witch laughed, the sound quivering in the air like the noise of breaking icicles without a trace of humor.

"Such insolence! You had better watch your tongue around me, _child," _she hissed, the Heartless sensing her fury and shifting hungrily in their great black masses. "I believe you may regret it if you decide to stay with that boy there and do not come to my side immediately."

"I'm shaking in my boots," Riku sneered. "And what'll you do if I don't feel like joining your merry little band?"

Maleficent grinned, showing her teeth for the first time. Her canines were blood red and abnormally long, and they shimmered with the energy of her sorcery. Mowgli shuddered at the sight of the witch's fangs, while Red began to growl low in his throat.

"You may soon find that you will no longer be able to make that decision for yourself, dearest Riku. It's just as they said—you have forgotten everything, have you not? Even your own friend there?" she said coolly, curving her graceful fingers over her staff. "It's a shame—you seem to have forgotten that this boy here was the one who locked you into the darkness—"

"That's enough!" Sora took a step forward, brandishing the Keyblade, his topaz eyes glinting in anger. "Why're you still alive? Why are the Heartless here? And what've done to Riku's memory?"

"If you defeat me, I just may tell you…that is, if you manage to live. Come, my Heartless, attack! Tear their hearts from their living flesh!" The witch held out a hand and slid sideways into a black portal, melding into the night.

From every direction, the Shadows and wolves swarmed down, with the thunderous roar of Shere Khan shaking the foundations of the ruin as he leapt. Sora swung the Keyblade down and flame exploded from the pearly weapon, erasing an entire horde of Shadows. The brunette then punched the weapon into the air and lighting streaked from the sky, evaporating several more Heartless into puffs of smoke.

"There're too many!" Riku yelled, slashing the chest of an attacking wolf as more Shadows oozed up from the floor. Mowgli cried out as one of the Shadows sprung onto his back, ripping at the exposed flesh with pointed claws. The silver-haired boy kicked out and smashed the creature's face with his Nikes, but more of the monsters rose from the icy floor and slithered towards the huddled group of fighters.

"The Keyhole of this world must be around here somewhere! Oathkeeper's gotta lock it before they—!"

Sora didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. The enormous, car-sized head of Shere Khan hurtled down, mouth open and blood red teeth ready to snap up the morsel of a boy. The brunette rolled out of the way, and leapt to his feet, casting a Firaga at the creature's exposed face. Half of the tiger's face exploded into hissing, putrid black smoke and blood. Enraged, it lunged again at Sora, who was too close to dodge. Sora hurled the Keyblade at the beast's face, where it lodged firmly into its cheek bone and stayed there. Shere Khan bellowed and reared, Oathkeeper poking out of its jaws as it flung its monstrous head around and stamped the floor, squashing the scurrying Shadows and smashing up the icy floor.

"Uh oh…" Sora tried to duck and dodge the flailing limbs, but a paw whacked him soundly in the stomach. The impact jetted him back and slammed him into one of the broken stone ruins. He moaned and crumpled, unmoving.

"Sora!" Red cried as he bounded over to the fallen boy, but more Heartless blocked his path. Mowgli came to his aid, brandishing his spear at the incoming wave of wolves and Shadows.

Riku turned, about to rush over to help the feline and the jungle boy, but he was distracted by a blur of white that suddenly filled his sight. Oathkeeper clanked to the floor in front of him, and Riku stared in horror at Shere Khan. Shadows were creeping up the tiger's legs and back, melding into its wounds and recreating its injured face.

There was no time to think. Riku snatched up the Keyblade and dashed under the legs of the Heartless tiger, panting and sliding on the slippery frost. _One chance, _he thought to himself, _I have to find the Keyhole before the tiger starts attacking again. _He raced over the icy stone floors, sidestepping Heartless and spires of ice, and into the looming tower.

As he entered the first room, the Keyblade shuddered strongly in Riku's hand. To his right, crumbling stairs wound up to the higher floors; in front of him squatted a stone altar, etched in unreadable symbols and ornate designs. "Show me where the Keyhole is," he said, feeling slightly stupid for talking to a weapon. Nevertheless, Oathkeeper rumbled again and tugged him towards the stairs. Riku sprinted up two flights before emerging in yet another room with another altar. This one, however, was covered in gigantic blocks of broken stone. In the side wall was a large vine-covered window that looked out over the jungle. Oathkeeper shuddered and glowed blue: this was it.

"Shit," he mumbled as he heaved rocks off of the shrine. He worked feverishly, trying not to think about the three companions outside and ignoring the rumbling of Shere Khan, who sounded as though he was nearly done healing from the rigor of his roar. "Come on, come on…where's the damn Keyhole?"

A sudden sound of hissing halted his work. Riku slowly turned his head and ogled at the frightening sight of an enormous boa constrictor unraveling itself from the corners of the room. The enormous coils of the yellow and brown mottled snake shimmered in the light thrown by the Keyblade, and its luminous green eyes glinted like jade in the dark.

"Ssss…with all this noise and cold, how is Kaa supposed to sleep in peace? And what else has awoken me but a little man cub that has wandered into my lair? But it is well—now I shall not have to hunt, as my meal has come to me." The snake raised his massive head, ready to strike out at the boy and swallow him whole.

"_We are of one blood, you and I," _Riku quickly called, remembering the master words Mowgli had told them that spoke of friendship in the jungle.

"Assp! The man cub knows the Master Word!" Kaa's coils poured from the shadows until his entire body was in the light, and Riku could see that the snake was about thirty feet long and the width of a tree trunk. It was simply, ridiculously, large.

"Could you help me get this rubble off of this altar?" Riku asked, trying to sound polite though the sound of Shere Khan's snarling whine and the clashes and cries of battle were coming through the window.

"'Tis nothing, Brother, for one as big as I," said Kaa. "Stand back, little manling." The snake leveled his triangular head and hammered the pile of bricks twice, nose first. The stone shattered at the force of the blows and part of the wall crumbled, revealing a keyhole-shaped space above the shrine.

Riku wondered if he would be able to lock it—after all, that was Sora's job, wasn't it?—but he raised Oathkeeper to the Keyhole.

Of course, though, things were never that easy.

Nothing happened. Oathkeeper lay still in his hand, as unhelpfully as if he was holding up a dead fish. Riku fought the urge to chuck the damned thing out the window

"What am I supposed to do!" he yelled, shaking the great ivory key. And as if someone had heard actually heard him, the smell came back. The same strange scent, the one that smelled like feathers, wafted into the stone chamber. And with it came the soft whisper of a deep, baritone voice, smooth and cold like a winter wind, echoing softly in his mind.

"_It's not the Keyhole you need…it's the Core. That's where the Heartless are spawning from."_

"The Core…?" Riku questioned.

"_A Core of this world…a strong heart on which the Heartless are feeding and multiplying…the sickness…"_

"Where can I find it?" Riku snapped. He was getting weary of voices with unseen sources.

But the smell and the voice had faded.

A crashing sound filled his ears, and Riku dashed to the window. He stared down through the vines in disbelief at the Shadows that were now crawling up the tower, yellow eyes gawking at him. Farther away, he could see Shere Khan closing in on the tiny figures of Red and Mowgli.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he groaned in frustration. No time for conventional methods. With a great swing of his arm he hurled the Keyblade down the wall, watching with some satisfaction as the Heartless squealed and scurried away from the window. He hauled himself on the ledge, facing outwards, and started to ease himself down the tower wall, arms shaking with effort.

"Manling! Where are you going? Surely not to that darkness?" The great head of Kaa filled the window as Riku paused, white hair slick with sweat and his feet bracing against the ancient granite. Ignoring the snake, Riku took a deep breath and released his vice grip on the old stone ledge. The Heartless forming on the wall hissed and spattered as he jumped from Shadow to Shadow, managing to half-tumble, half-leap his way down the tower. Landing gracefully on a pile of half-formed Shadows, he plucked Oathkeeper from the icy floor and plunged forward into the fray.

It seemed as though the battle was nearly over—Red and Mowgli stood guard over a prone Sora, and the wolves were closing in, tongues sagging and possessed yellow eyes rolling. Above them all, Shere Khan's earthquake voice was screaming out in triumph. The gigantic tiger's mouth was opening, ready to devour the tiny creatures that had dared to oppose him—

Riku leapt, tossing Oathkeeper to the side and summoning Soul Eater. The winged sword howled as it struck the tiger's flesh, digging straight into its back—

"_This is your power."_

Ruby light burst from Shere Khan's back, blowing away the shadow, and Riku could see the shine of a luminescent heart, clamped by tendrils of darkness—

"_Not even Sora can do this."_

Steam billowed from the heart, the world was quaking, and someone or something was screaming, voices, an unearthly cacophony of magic and noise and jets of light—

_He is a man-cub and from the very marrow of my bones I hate him!_

"_After all, you are…"_

_Then open yourself to the darkness… the darkness holds the power to defeat the object of your hatred! Become darkness itself!_

"_You are…"_

_This power…Mowgli shall die! This **power**! All will fall to the might of Shere Khan…!_

Riku felt his body impact on the hard earth. Above, the stars glimmered feverishly, and for a moment he could see the outline of a black-robed woman observing overhead, sallow face spread in a smile. Maleficent? Her ruby lips were moving, spelling out words…

"_You belong to the darkness… you belong to me."_

The world grew hazy, as if someone had pulled gauze over his eyes, and Riku promptly passed out.

------

"_Hey, Sora." A familiar voice. Sweet and youthful, not yet tinged with the suave calmness that would come later in adolescence. Navy shorts, sleeveless yellow jacket, hair like threads of ivory silk—I recognize this boy. _

_It's me. _

"_Hm?" The other boy turns around to face me…the younger me, I mean. Eyes like topaz seas, dark lashes curling against honey gold skin. Sora? It has to be—the boy has the same golden smell. It looks like we're in a cave, where someone has scribbled little pictures in white chalk on the cool, moldy stone. _

_And at the end of the cave, there is a door. Just a simple wooden door, nothing fancy, nothing amazing, yet it means everything to this world. _

"_When we grow up, let's get off this island. We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"_

_They can't see me. They keep chatting, as they push their way through the wide, jewel-green leaves that cover the entrance. But before I—or he—leaves, younger Riku glances over his shoulder. At me. At the door, so simple and plain, but behind it lies a secret, and he knows that someday, he will discover— _

_I'm falling through everlasting darkness, swallowed by blackness deeper than any sea. Falling, falling, and I have a feeling that it's not gravity pulling me down, but the calling of some foul and unseen beast. _

"_What lies beyond the door? Who made the Keyblades, and what is their true power and purpose?" _

"_Who moves the hands of destiny; what is the power that shakes both the heavens and the earth?"_

"_Soon. The time is coming when you will awaken…"_

------

His eyes fluttered open. Aquamarine orbs gazed up a patchwork of leaves, neatly woven by experienced hands, strings of light shining in the spaces between the palms. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was, or why he didn't hear his damned mother whining in the corridor about a broken nail or some other idiotic matter. Then the sound of bird song and monkey chatter filled his ears and the sweet aroma of roasting meat reminded him of his hunger.

Riku propped himself up on his elbows, running bare fingers through his silvery hair, which shone like gilded steel from the morning dew. He was lying on a bed of soft grasses, next to the gentle river where he and Sora had crash-landed in what seemed like an eternity ago. The sunlight speckled the forest floor and the humid heat of the jungle was subdued by the makeshift tent over his head. For the first time in quite a few years, he felt a sharp tinge of true, unbridled fear—it had essentially been the same dream, but it felt real…too real. The teen then noticed Sora, who was hunkered down a few feet away under a sapling. The other boy's head was bowed as flipped what appeared to be a ragged book of green leather in his hands, his usually cheerful face distorted by melancholy.

"You know, the depressed look doesn't really suit you," Riku coughed loudly. His unused voice sounded like he'd swallowed a cup of grated chalk. Sora jumped in shock, the book leapt from his hands, and his head banged against the branch of the sapling with a resounding thud. Riku couldn't help laughing at the boy's antics, even as Sora rubbed a hand through his chocolate, spiky hair and pouted. But the brunette soon broke into a grin at Riku's amusement.

"Glad to see you're awake," Sora chirped, gathering the other boy under his arm before grinding a fist into Riku's skull. "Only a knuckle-head like you can sleep for two whole days!"

Riku playfully pushed off the offending boy, smiling lazily as stretched out his stiff legs. "Two days?" he asked, his voice still scratchy but nonchalant. "Where're my clothes?" he questioned, running a hand over his bare, taut chest. His jeans were still intact, but his shoes were missing too.

"I had to take them off. You were bleeding into them," Sora said with a sheepish grin.

"Really?" Riku chuckled at the pink stain of embarrassment growing across Sora's cheeks. "I don't see any cuts. But hey, I wouldn't blame you if you just wanted to check out the washboard…" He stroked his tight abs for emphasis, grinning.

"Don't hold your breath!" Sora yelped. "You _were_ cut up! It's not my fault if you healed so damn fast! Kept muttering in your sleep too." The boy puckered his face and flopped his hands in front of him in imitation. "Unh… the door, blah blah…" he moaned, hunching over and crowing like a goblin. "What was that all about?"

"Forget about it," Riku said distantly.

"Hey, c'mon, tell me!" With a grin, the brunette lunged on top of the older boy, pinning him with wiry, but strong arms. "I bet you were dreaming about girls, huh?" he snickered. "Remember that one time you were sleeping over at my house and you had that dream about Kairi and then—"

"Us. I dreamed about us when we were younger. The first time we went to the Secret Place." Silence stretched between the boys, punctuated by the cries of the jungle creatures and the gentle weeping of the river.

"Riku… you remember?" Sora gawked down at his childhood friend, sea-blue eyes sparkling with surprise and hope.

"That's the only thing that I can remember. But how can I have memories from two separate lives?"

"I don't know… but your memory coming back must have something to do with when you released Shere Khan's heart—"

"I did?" Riku asked, puzzled.

"Don't you remember? I got knocked out, but Red told me you jumped at him and Soul Eater started shining and it blew up the tentacles that were wrapped around Shere Khan's heart," Sora said, gesturing.

"And then?"

"The wolves kinda woke up…they couldn't remember anything that had happened and the Heartless mark vanished—but Shere Khan died. I guess the darkness had too strong a hold on his heart. You passed out—and that shot out of Shere Khan's heart before it disappeared." The brunette tumbled off of Riku and picked up the green leather book that he had been inspecting before Riku had awoken. He handed it to the silver-haired boy, who studied the time-worn cover with curiosity. The book seemed to be some kind of diary—it had a rusty gold lock that clamped the pages shut and indecipherable words were scribbled all over the front.

"What is it supposed to be?" Riku asked. With a flash of dancing sparks, Sora summoned Oathkeeper and tapped the lock. The pages sprung open and he eagerly scrutinized the pages—but they were blank, ordinary sheets of slightly moldy paper.

"This is it?" the aqua-eyed boy muttered.

"Well, there must be something else to it," Sora said. "But right now, we've got more important things to talk about!" Riku lowered the book, slowly, though he kept it clutched to his side. "We gotta talk about what's happening with these new movements of the Heartless."

Riku tilted his head back, allowing the warm fingers of sunlight to caress his face and light silver fire to his hair. "Well, I don't know as much about it as you probably do. But I think whoever's controlling the Heartless chose to infect Shere Khan's heart with the power of darkness—his hatred for men, and Mowgli in particular, was a perfect breeding ground for the shadow power that allows you to control the hearts of others. When Shere Khan bit the wolves, he spread that dark power and so he could control them—that's what the Heartless mark on their bodies meant. And Shere Khan was the Core—or something like that."

Sora ogled at the older teen in wide-eyed wonder and confusion. "How d'you know?"

"I heard it when I released Shere Khan's heart. I heard Shere Khan and another voice—whoever started the infection—talking. There was also another voice, in the tower, but it was different…" Riku eased down on his makeshift bed, tiredness ringing in his bones. He rolled and crunched a couple of dead leaves in his hands, avoiding the gaze of sapphire waves as he vaguely wondered why he could now smell nearly every morsel of the environment, from the leaf corpses in his hands to the icy breath of the river to the distant smell of roasting meat. The boy did not move as Sora edged closer and lowered himself into a cross-legged position by Riku's side.

"Did you also hear…Maleficent?"

The silver-haired boy sucked in breath softly, and didn't meet the other's eyes. _You belong to me… _"No. Who cares about her? She disappeared after ordering the Heartless, right?"

"Riku," Sora began, his voice cracking at the mental barriers of the other's mind, the wafting, golden smell ultimately distracting as Riku tried desperately to ignore him. "Why are you hiding something from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything." Where was this fear coming from? Riku felt his lungs clenching, and his lithe fingers ground the leaves into dust as he focused his stare upwards, at the canopy of leaves. _What's the big deal about telling the kid about these stupid dreams? Why am I afraid?_

"Riku… I've known you forever. And you stink at lying…you won't even look at me."

Anger suddenly boiled up from the pit of Riku's stomach. The stress and confusion of the past hours snapped his fragile self-control. "I said I'm not hiding anything! If you don't want to believe me then that's fine. Why would I tell you anything anyways?" Riku abruptly jerked up from the ground. He pushed past Sora, emerald eyes blazing, as he strode towards the glittering river. The Keyblade Master sat very still, his expression hidden by wisps of chocolate hair that swept across his bronzed face, but his breath jumped in and out of him in a desperate rhythm. Riku spun around to yell at Sora, the fear clutching at his body like Heartless claws, the fear of the unknown.

"I never had another life! And I don't owe you anything! I'm the one helping YOU out in this ridiculous shit, not the other way around!" Stillness and silence from the brunette. Riku turned away in disgust and waded through the ferns into the chill body of the river. Frigid water licked over his feet and the jungle heat pressed in on him like the iron bars of a cage, with his fear rising.

Riku jumped at the sudden feeling of being embraced from behind. Tanned arms snaked around his chest and clamped down on the wrist of the other. He felt the rise and fall of Sora's chest as the boy leaned against him, the feather touch of his auburn hair, and the golden, autumn smell that belonged only to Sora.

"Don't be afraid."

Riku stood unmoving, blue green eyes locked on some distant tree, the cries and heat of the jungle a faraway sensation as his mind focused on the words of the younger boy.

"You might not remember me, and maybe you don't even trust me. But Riku, I remember you. I know you'd never say anything if you were afraid. You always had to be the support for all of us.

"But I know you—and I know you're scared because you can't remember yourself, and you're probably hiding all sorts of things from me…but it's ok. Don't be such a dork, Riku! And don't be afraid of who you are, and what will happen in the future. Because even in the greatest darkness, the worst sadness or fear...there will always be a door to the light. I really believe that. And I'm not gonna let you sit around and mope and worry about what'll happen. You got it? 'Cause we're gonna be here for each other—always." Sora released him and pulled away, the ocean in his eyes glimmering and that goofy, boyish smile on his face. The brunette placed his hands casually behind his head as Riku turned, very slowly, to face him.

"Thanks…kid." Disappointment stood starkly on Sora's face, stamping out the shine of hope quivering on his lips.

"Yeah… we're best friends, you know?" Sora's smile returned, slowly but steadily like the inevitable approach of dawn.

Riku looked away, finding that his eyes still feared touching the other's ocean gaze. _This must have been why the Keyblade chose Sora instead of me. At least that part makes sense. _Riku pushed away the silence and allowed his cocky smile to emerge. He grabbed the brunette by the arm and pulled them both from the shallow mouth of the river. "So, is there anything to eat?"

"Oh!" Sora seemed a bit startled by the sudden change of attitude. "Well, Mowgli brought me a gigantic chunk of deer meat this morning, but, um, it was raw and I've been cooking it, or um, trying to. Even though I can't really cook too well," he chuckled nervously.

"What? No McDonald's?"

"Mick what?" Sora questioned, his brows knitted in confusion.

"It's a… never mind." Riku caught sight of the campfire with its crown of impaled meat, supported by two long sticks of wood. He deftly plucked the steaming food from the fire and tore it in half, handing one piece to Sora and folding his legs underneath him to enjoy his meal. The charred meat tasted sweet and delicious, and his increasingly powerful sense of smell made his head spin from the fragrance of the delicate food. Sora flopped down at his side, bouncing the meat from palm to palm to cool it. The two ate with silence as their companion, disturbed only by the weeping of the stream and the sleepy voices of the Jungle animals as each lost himself in his thoughts.

The two were just licking their fingers and brushing the ashes from their clothes when a blur of crimson fur bounded over their heads and landed neatly on all fours beside the dying campfire. Red stretched with the languid motion of a hunter, silky mane rustling as he studied the two boys with ruby eyes. "Good morning," the feline yawned.

"Hey, Red," said Sora, slinging a friendly arm over the sterling-haired boy's shoulder. "Riku's feeling better now."

Amber eyes rolled over Riku's form and the cat's flaming tail swished and snapped through the air in what Riku interpreted as irritation. "Well done. The repairs are finished, so I am ready to leave whenever you are." Muscles coiled, Red charged back into the brush and galloped off on silent paws. The sterling-haired boy rolled his eyes and wandered back toward the makeshift shelter in search of his clothes.

"That thing hates me," Riku muttered, kneeling to yank on his torn-up Nikes back onto his bare feet. "It was pissed about me waking up. Dammit!" he cursed softly as his fingers caught on a narrow splinter stuck in the shoelace. Blood beaded from the shallow cut as he pinched out the slender, moist wood.

"Of course he doesn't!" Sora protested as he busily gathered the supplies into his voluminous jumper pockets. He stamped vigorously on the campfire to douse the flames and gestured for Riku to follow him into the jungle on Red's path.

"Hey! Wait a second! How are we even going to get out of here?" Riku called to Sora's retreating back, rubbing his cut fingers distractedly against his jeans.

"You'll see…!" came the echoing reply.

"Yeah, we'll see..." Riku sighed. "I guess it can't possibly get any stranger." The older teen sauntered after the Keyblade master into the thickets, one hand clenched on Soul Eater's hilt and the other on the old, tattered book. And unbeknownst to him, the trickle of blood from his fingers was seeping into the time-worn leather, and from between the covers the slumbering magic began to stir…

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Super long chapter to make up for months of slackness. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review! A minute of your time justifies the hours I spend on this ;;

Next chapter... I believe we may be seeing our favorite member of the Organization... ?)


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